


This Could Be A Shipwreck

by Nevanna



Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 16:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6431641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance and Kitty try to have whatever passes for a normal date.  Past and present complications arise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Could Be A Shipwreck

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written in a response to a prompt by [killing_kurare](http://archiveofourown.org/users/killing_kurare/pseuds/killing_kurare).
> 
> The title is from "Sink or Swim" by Tyrone Wells.

“I’m going to do some holiday shopping this weekend,” Kitty says on the phone, “and I was – I don’t know – wondering if you wanted to come with me?”

“You know I got a pretty full schedule of crime and destruction,” Lance replies, hoping that she’ll laugh.

When she speaks again, her voice is much smaller and quieter. “Never mind. It was a totally dumb idea.”

Lance doesn’t _ever_ want to make her sound like that again. “I didn’t say I wasn’t into the idea. When do you want to meet?”

\--

He follows Kitty through the mall, from the bookstore to the music store to a candle stall that makes him sneeze. He’s relieved when they move on quickly.

Kitty spends about five minutes petting a silk scarf at one of the department stores. “Do you think my mom would like this?” she asks.

Lance shrugs. “I wouldn’t know. The only time I met your mom was…” He looks away. Would saying “when I tried to drop a building on her” be worse than _not_ saying it? “It’s pretty. I like the butterflies.”

A salesgirl swoops down on them. “That piece is one of our new arrivals,” she chirps. “If you don’t like this color, we also have a similar pattern in copper and lettuce.”

Before Lance can stop himself, he repeats, “Lettuce?” Does he need to clean out his ears? “Oh. That’s a color, right?”

Kitty pats his arm. “Right on the first try.” To the salesgirl, she says, “The blue one is great, actually. I’ll take it.”

“Fantastic!” the salesgirl exclaims. She darts her gaze in Lance’s direction and stage-whispers, “We’re also having some amazing sales in our men’s department, if you still don’t know what to get your boyfriend.”

When Kitty doesn’t say, “no, he’s not my boyfriend,” Lance resists the urge to pump his fist in the air.

\--

They try to stick to safe topics: schoolwork, their respective housemates, and whether the clerks at Hot Topic are having some kind of facial piercing contest. “If we’re not careful, I might start to feel like we’re a normal couple,” Kitty says at one point.

Lance snorts. “Normal is for losers.” 

She bites her lip against whatever she was going to say. They pass the indoor ice rink and pause to watch the skaters glide and twirl.

“I used to look forward to skating every winter,” Kitty says.

“Me, too.” She stares at him. “I’m dead serious,” Lance insists.

“It’s not that. I’ve just never heard you much about… you know. Your life before we met. Not that I want to, like, _make_ you talk about it,” she adds quickly. “You know?”

“There was a pond in my old neighborhood, where I lived with my first foster family. As soon as it froze over, we hauled out the skates.” It’s not that Lance thinks Kitty can't _handle_ the details of his past – most of it isn’t exactly pretty, but she’s a whole lot tougher than she looks. (It’s one of the things he likes about her.) He’s just not used to giving those years a whole lot of thought. 

He spends even less time thinking about the future.

\--

Kitty has promised that Chocolate Paradise makes the best hot chocolate north of New York City. They’ve reached the food court, and are waiting in line, when she suddenly goes rigid from head to toe, staring off into space.

Lance touches her arm. “You okay?”

She blinks. “Yes. I mean, _I_ am, but other people might not…” She starts over. “That was Professor Xavier.”

“In your head? Is he gonna come along on all our dates?”

“Lance, _don’t_. There’s been an accident, and he needs anybody who can help.”

Lance doesn’t know what he’s going to say until the words are already out of his mouth. “Can _I_ help?”

“You know what the others would think of that.” 

He does know. He’s not sure whether he cares. 

“I’m sorry. I have to go.” Kitty squeezes his hands. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

__

By the time Kitty pulls him aside during lunch the next day, Lance has thought of a lot of questions that he could ask. He goes with the one that’s least likely to make him sound like a weenie. “The thing you had to go and stop…” He lowers his voice reluctantly. “Did a mutant cause it?” 

Kitty shakes her head. “Just a boring old bridge accident.”

After a moment, he remembers to ask, “Is everybody okay?”

“Everybody’s okay.” She gives a tiny smile. “Honestly, I thought you were going to tell me to, I don’t know, blow off the whole mission to hang out with you.”

“Didn’t even occur to me,” Lance says, and realizes, for the first time, that it’s true.

“You already know what I would have said.” Kitty’s face hardens for a moment. He remembers that expression from all the times that they used to fight each other. “I’m glad you offered to help. I hope that someday, you can.”


End file.
